Class. 
Book. 



. . V ^ AN 



ADDHESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



^ivni ^ocfet» of ffxu Snquftcr^, 



IN BOSTON, 



Ou SuTi^a^, Jw\y 4, ISSO 



BY n. Z.. JSNNINaS. 



*eO«< 



BOSTON, 

HOOTON & TEPRELL, PRmTER?!. 
1830. 



ADBUESS. 



Once more a year has rolled round, and this great nation, 
celebrates a day which millions yet unborn will hail as blessed. 
A day snatched from the calendar of time, raised above all its 
fellows, and consecrated to thy service — fair goddess of Liberty ! 

Once more a year has rolled round, and this great nation 
lives a progressingly free and happy republic. Steadily as the 
sun she rises to her meridian, diffusing light and genial heat 
over all the nations of the globe : — a terror to those only, who 
live by deeds of darkness ; but the admiration of all intelli_ 
gent well wishers of the human race. Arrived at her zenith 
may she there remain till man himself shall cease to be, and' 
lime exist no more. 

Once more a year has rolled round, and we meet again, to re- 
mind each other, and our children, of those brave men, who, 
long having groaned under the rod of foreign oppression, and 
patiently borne every indignity which crowned ambition, and 
mitred rapacity could heap upon them, rose in the majesty 
of a peoples' strength, determined to be free, and in deti- 
ance of Britain's huge and veteran power, dared to proclaim 
to a wonder-struck, and listening world, the long slumbered 
truth — " All men are born Free and Equal ! " 

Fifty four years have nov/ passed on, since those brave men, 
whose, blood now flows through all your children's veins, 
gave to the world this charter of a nation's rights,* and pledged 
their lives, their fqrtunes, and their sacred honor, to its support. 

Long was their struggle, and their task severe ; still in their 
darkest hour, the bright torch of liberty led them onward, till 
the star spangled banner waved o'er every citadel trom Maine 
to Georgia, and their httle fleet floated triumphantly on the 
sea, in defiance of the fjrmer " mistress of the ocean." 

Who of us can appreciate their risk, their toil, their suffer- 
ings, and noLie daring ? Had Britain triumphed by her force 
of arms, her wily policy, or lavished gold ; those who now live 



The dficlaration of Independence, v.'hich lay on the table. 



in Memory's brightest page tlie pride and glory of their coun- 
try, wouKl scarce have found a man to record their names, ex- 
cept as rebels, traitors to their God and King, unwortuv life, 
and justly punislied witii an ignoble death. 

All this they risked, and mure ; their toil and sufferings, their 
doubts and fears, their hopes and glorious reward a; o stamped 
on the historic sheet, treasured in the hearts of all their present 
posterity, to be handed down through successive generations 
to endless futurity. 

But the virtue, integrity and perseverance of your ancestors, 
is an endless theine to those whose hearts respond their feel- 
ings ; and whose reverence for their virtues is only equalled by 
admiration of their talents, as displayed in the declaration of 
our Independence, and the establishment of our free institu- 
tions. 

A declaration asserting, and institutions guaranteeing the 
right of all to life, liberty and the uninterrupted pursuit of hap- 
piness. 

Having paid this just tribute to the memory of your fathers, 
I leave the beaten track of every day orations, to remind you 
(hat your no less heroic mothers bore their full share of the 
common toil and common danger, and more than their share of 
torturing suspense, watchful anxiety, privation, and sulfcring. 
Yet their hearts were firm, and their hands and time employed iu 
administering to the sick, and nursing and comforting the 
wounded, iiy them, were their husbands, brothevs and sons 
stimulated to persevere in the arduous task of freeing their 
country from the oppression of their powerful, numerous, and 
well appointed veteran foe ; and while they mourned over those 
who fell defcndmg the sacred standard of liberty, they rewarded 
the surviving heroes with their smiles and approbation. Surely 
then, they, no less than your lathers, deserve to live in the 
hearts of their children, and to be forever held in a nation's 
grateful remembrance. 

Now let us enquire how their sons have profited by this bl<x)d, 
and toil, and danger. How far they have followed in the foot- 
steps of their ancestors, and what is the present condition of our 
country. 

Should I be referred to subsequent war, when, in a period of 
great public excitement your ships fearlessly cruised the ocean, 
and your militia at Orleans swept the plain, I should justly ac- 
quit you of neglect of your birth-right ; and acknowledge that 
you had indeed nobly proved your ancestry, and bravely sup- 
ported the character and dignity oflreemen; but in war we 
have our homes, our wives, our cliildrcn, our property and 



liberty to delbnd ; cGninioii danger stimulates to exertion and 
compels to union. In peace, this liberty is to be preserved, 
and we, unsuspicious ot" danj^er, are liable to be lulled into 
a fancied security, till Ibreign influence and domestic ambi- 
tion wrest it from us, and forge us fetters tenfold stronger than 
before. 

To encourage yau in imagined security then, while the times 
warn us of increasing danger, to increase this popular delusion, 
believing it to be such, I hold as treason to the state : enough 
are there to flatter us for the popular suffrage, enough ready 
and willing to laud our very vices to win their meed of popular 
applause. I care for neither, 1 seek biit the good of the coun- 
try of my adoption, and in her prosperity the happiness of my- 
ticlf and fellow citizens. And is there no danger threatened to 
this republic ? Are my fears that our liberties are endangered, 
my convictions that our rights are only imperfectly enjoyed, but 
the jealous wanderings of a disordered brain ? 

If this be so, then is a restricted and shackled public press, 
a sign of freedom. 

If this be so, then is luxurious indolence, the stately mansion, 
the splendid equipage, the often purse-proud insolence of their 
possessor, emblems of republican simplicity. 

If this be so, then do not men more seek wealth, than th& 
enjoyment of their rights, and the preservation of their liberties. 

If this be so, then the overtoiled labourer, who by his utmost 
exertion, can scarce provide food and shelter for his children, 
the widow and orphan struggling for a precarious subsistence 
in an unfeeling world, while their fellow citizens revel in luxu- 
rious abundance, are so many examples of equality. 

If this be so, then the 'punishment of poverty with greater 
riiiour than iveptinish crime, is just, and consistent with our re- 
publican institutions. 

Ifthis.be so, then are our multiplied jails, for the imprison- 
ment of the poor unfortunate debtor, and the greatly tenipted 
criminal ; the increased severity of our prison discipline, the 
protest of unimprisoned workmen against criminals interfering 
with their labour and means of subsistence, the erection of hous- 
es of Industry to punish for juvenile crimes, instead of Schools 
of Industry to prevent their commission ; the building of Alms- 
houses to increase the number and indolence of paupers, insterd 
of purchasing state farms on which they might support them- 
selves by their own industry, are so many proofs of increased 
virtue of the people, and wisdom and integrity of our legislators. 

But if the apprehension of threatened danger to our liberties, 
and certain conviction of the unposscssion and unenjoynient of 



our rights, are not the fhttcrings of a distempered brain ; then, 
as we vahie freedom should we unite for its enjoyment, and an 
we love liberty and our free institutions, preserve and hand 
them down uncorrupted, to the next generation. 

In the early settlement of this country, when your ancestors, 
seeking an asylum from the religious persecutions of an Eliza- 
beth and her successors, tirst landed on th»se shores, then ;in 
luicuhivated wilderness, their love of freedom and sterling vir- 
tue, iniluced them to bear every privation and sutfcring, even 
to death, rather than remain in, or return to, a country where 
their rights were invaded and their liberties abridged. Content- 
ing themselves with the gratification of their natural wants, as 
circumstances could these supply, so were they happy. Among 
them the principle of self interest and competition had as yet 
found no place. Idleness and luxuriance they had left behind 
them, an ocean rolled between; their hearts were social, not iso- 
lated; their finest sensibilities awakened, not blunted; their most 
generous impulses indulged, not destroyed; their toil they shared 
aHke, and, in accordance iuith the practice of the earlij chrisliana, 
lite ij field all their property in common, for several years after 
their arrival. Then occupations the most useful and necessary, 
were justly estimated ; the cultivator of the soil, the mechanic 
and the manufacturer, to whom collectively we are indebted for 
all the necessaries and comforts of life, were honoured and re- 
spected ; etidured no additional privations because by the la- 
bour of their hands and sweat of their brow they contributed t ) 
the general support ; experienced not the contempt of the 
thoughtless nor the coiitumely of the proud ; fur all knew the 
value of the labourer, and none dwelt among them who lived 
by their vices, their quarrels, their crimes, nor their hypocrisy. 
Industry and lionesty then received public approbation ; and 
in that virtuous community, their just reward ; the superstitions 
of the people only debased their minds and made them in turn 
persecutors of their dissentient brethren. 

But we speak of their virtues, not of tlien- faults ; of their 
wisdom,not oftheir folly; of their political arrangements for their 
common good, not oftheir religious rites, ceremonies nor super- 
stitions ; enough are found not only to calumniate the living, 
but to narrate and magnify the errors even of the illustrious 
dead. 

Two hundred years have passed; and where find we their 
virtue ; their simplicity, their equality, and sacred devotion to 
liberty ? Where the log hut, the armed husbandman, the forest 
of a millieu years growth, the rugged bear, the ravenous wolf, 
the timid deer, the Indian's wigwam or the Indians' self ? His 



wile, liis offspring— where ? But no, I will not urge this ques- 
tion. 1 wish not now to awaken your symphathies tor a brave 
and fallen race, the original possessors of this soil. J wish not 
to remind you that our greatness was their destruction, our 
increase their annihilation. I wish not to mar the pleasure of 
this day by retrospection of the past. I only think and feel 
that they were here, free as the deer they pursued, happy in 
the embrace of their wives and little ones j and now — they are 
gone, for ever. 

Two hundred years have passed, and where find we the seed 
of liberty your fathers planted ? Its roots, struck deep in the 
earth, have ramified from North to South, from East to West, 
suffering nothing to divert their course ; hill, dale, mountain, 
river, sea and ocean, have they perseveringly traversed, and 
sent forth their shoots in every land ; while her towering and 
outspreading branches o'er shadow every clime, and scatter her 
seeds on every soil. Such has the growth of two hundred 
years made this great and flourishing repubhc, and for the last 
fifty years she has stood as the sun in his bright system, shinirfg 
steadily by her own light, while that of the republics around 
have been frequently obscured by their own revolutions. 

We would not draw invidious comparisons between ourselves 
and less fortunate nations, we would not triumph over, but rath- 
er sympathise in their misfortunes : our mutual cause is that 
of Virtue, Liberty and Independence ; our mutual enemies. 
Kings, Priests and Aristocrats. But the experience of others 
is oft of service to ourselves, and the means which the enslavers 
of mankind use to effect their object with one people, will be 
used to destroy the liberty of others. In 1789, France, inimi^ 
tation of this nation, by a union of her strength, and urged by 
those who had fought the battles of this republic, snapped the 
chains of her long continued slavery, and with one effort freed 
herself from the oppression of her nobles, priests and kings. — 
Europe stood amazed ! this shock within her bosom had 
nearly overpowered her, its undulations were felt not only on 
the continent, but in the neighboring isles. Kings trembled on 
their thrones ; crowns, coronets, miti-es, tottered on their wear- 
er's brows, and all the gaudy trappings of a court were but th» 
insignia of a near destruction. 

But vice triumphed ; and France was doomed to expiate her 
sin against tyranny and usurpation, by rivers of the purest blood ; 
what force could not effect, cunning accomplished. 

" Perhaps," says an able writer,* '* there is no great political 
event that has ever been so grossly — and, I fear, so wilfully — - 



"R. D. O. Editor of the Naw York Free Enquirar . 



8 

nusreprcscnted as the Frrnch Revolution. Xevcr wa. a more 
nol, e nor a more nnfort.mnfo struggle to put down tvranny,and 
mtolerancr and mjusfre, and to replace a eruel despotism by 
aiepubl.c lounde.l on the rights and the liberties of its citizen/ 
.^overu-as there a period "hen the power oftruth and of iiistir'e 
shone more conspicuously than in the first months of that revo- 
lution. >.evcr, perhaps, u-a.s there a public bodv at once more 
daring, more honest, and more moderate, than the National As- 
sembly of 1789 ; nor ever, probably, d,d a political p.^rvtx- 
h.b.t more smcere devotion to a good cause, than did the brave 
and untortnnatc Girondists. 

jy f'"if«.o</'-cat excitement are unfavorable to sober jud^- 
ent ; and, m default of experience, men are apt iVom one ex- 
t.eme to run into the opposite. Thus did excesses oncrinate 
among the French republican party, by which their subtle ad- 
^ersanes were but too ready to profit. 

At first, the extravagancies committed by those who had cs- 

fX ev7"' "'^ 'l "'^;''''" "^ '^^'^'"^^^« oppression, were care- 
n2,ns nPr '"''' atrocities. Throughout all the other 

nations ot Europe, men's fears were excited, and men's heads 
Mere turned by visions of murder and rapine 

But a surer expedient yet remained. Emissaries were sent 
from Great Britain and from other European courts, to fan tl^^ 
lame of extravagance, and to push the most reckless and v o^ 
lent among the Revolutionary democrats to unheard-of actlof 
injustice and cruelty. The celebrated Pine], of Paris was 
called, in his capacity of physician, to attend a member of one 
of the principal revolutionary committees ; a man who had dis- 
tinguished hunse If asthe abettor and perpetrator of some of the 
worst a rocit.es that stained the annals of that eventful period 
Ihe patient eagerly enquired what Pine] thought of his case • 
requesting as an act of friendship, that danger, if there were 
any might not be concealed from him. Pmel replied by advis - 
InCttbf ft' ^'"'y''}'^''^^'^^ t« arrange, not to delay an hour 
m settling It. The dying man appeared to be deeply affected 
with his situation ; and ^inel, who had ever been a^rue and 
staunch republican, even from the first attack on the Bastile in 
which he personally a.ssisted-thought the moment favorable to 
obtain some insight into the motives that had prompted the chief 

h.9 pa lent, < I would lain ask you a question ; but it may be a 
LTrt aZ- b "^^^,^"-Pl-dthe o\her ; " my time h'^re .' 
short, and I have nothing that I need conceal now." ''Then" 
resumed Puiel, "I would »sk what possible motive you conl.: 



have had to enact, under the guise of republicanism, the bloody 
horrors that have ruined our cause." " Your question is easily 
answered," returned the sick man ; "I had a pension of six 
thousand francs sent to me from England regularly by Jjouis." 
Disguised as zealous republicans, these tools of a corrupt aristoc- 
racy secretly instigated, and sometimes openly perpetrated, the 
very atrocities, which their masters afterwards held up with well 
feigned horror, to the execration of their deluded subjects. 

These assertions are not made lightly, nor without sufficient 
aiithority. Tiiey are made on the authority of one, who learnt 
in the American revolution the value of liberty, and then return- 
ed to aid France in a similar attempt ; and who has been, al- 
ternately and deservedly, the idol of our country and of his 
own. They will not be found in most of the histories of that 
eventful period ; in part, because such facts as these are not 
very generally known ; and, in part, because there are histo- 
rians who do know, and yet choose to conceal them. 

It is true, that if the French Revolutionists had preserved 
throughout, the wisdom and the moderation that characterized 
their first efforts, no power on earth could have destroyed their 
republic, or prevented the downfall of all neighboring despo- 
tisms by the gradual difTusion, throughout Europe, of revolu- 
tionary principles. But it is also true, that, but for the unjust 
and interested interference of foreigners, the French repubhc 
would have lived through its errors ; and taught by experience 
to avoid equally the extremes of anarchy and of despotism, 
would have settled down into a bright example of what U nation 
may become, when it recognises and asserts the rights of 
mankind. 

But foreign interference, seemed, for a time, to turn the 
blessing to a curse. The reign of terror was hurried on, and 
all Europe rung with its horrors ; in themselves sufficiently 
disgusting, but exaggerated into a thousand shapes of gratuitous 
deformity, by the interested supporters of the powers that be. 
Liberty and Equality, instead of the stirring watch-word that 
roused and rallied millions round the Standard of Truth, be- 
came a by- word and a bug-bear to frighten the sturdy sons of 
Freedom, if they but moved a finger, or ventured a step. The 
Rights of Man meant something very impious ; and Reason 
was spoken of almost with horror. 

To a superficial observer it appeared that the cause of liber- 
ality lost ground, day by day. The eager Legitimates seemed 
so well to profit by their enemies' blunders, that the blow which 
had been struck for freedom recoiled on those who f;tinck it : 



10 

and tlie chain wlncli had been snapt and thrown aside, seemed 
more stronorly rivetted tlian ever. 

But it was in appearance only that freedom and justice were 
losers. The gnarled roots of custom and prejudice, and pre- 
rogative, had been torn and loosened ; and though the first 
blast of the tempest had passed over, and the ancient tree 
which had bent before it, stood once more erect, yet many a 
•roodly bough was rent from it, and the wreck that remained 
wiis destined never to recover its former freshness or vigour. 
Opinions were then broached and principles promulgated which 
mav continue in disrepute for a time ; but they have already 
taken root in tliis country, in Great Britain, and in other Eu- 
ropean nations. And sooner or later, they will be known and 
appreciated and adopted over the civilized world." 

Had the French nation generally been more intelligent, for- 
eign intrigue and influence would have failed in their effect, 
and France would have been at this day, the mother republic of 
fhe European nations around her. Still may we hope however, 
that this great nation will some day be what, but for intrigue, 
she would have been now — and still do we hope to see her sons 
enjoying their long sought liberty and freedom : — 

" Yet, Freedom I Yet thy banner, torn but fljin?, 
Streams like the thunder-storm against the wind: 
Thy trumpet voice, though broken now and dying, 
The loudest still the tempest leaves behind : 
lliy tree hatli lost its blossoms, and the rind, 
Chopp'd by the axe, looks rough and little worth, 
But the sap lasts, — and still the seed we find 
Sown deep, even in the bosom of the North : 
So shall a better spring less bitter Iruit bring forth." 

From France in chronological order, we pass to the repub- 
iics of Southern America, and find, that though they have driv- 
en the foreign soldier from their soil, though Ferdinand's can- 
non no longer roars upon their plains, nor echoes frorn their 
mountains, though their fields are no more trodden, nor towns 
destroyed bv the armed minions of a despotic king, yet freedom 
is not enjoyed. Ignorance and Superstition there reign in gi- 
ant strengtli, and those beautiful climes are the abode of anar- 
o!iv, confusion, and domestic strife. So true it is, that bond- 
age of the human mind is a greater subjugator of the human 
race than fleets and armies : and the individuals who would per- 
petuate this bondage, are ever those who live on the labour and 
credulity of others. But our Southern neighbors have discov- 
ered the cause of their dissentions, and are now engaged in ap- 
plving an effectual remedy- 

• The spirited exertions of Gen. Morazan at Guatemala, ift 



11 



thoroughly purging the counti-y of all those individuals who 
were leaders in the late bloody and disastrous civil war, (all of 
whom belonged to" the party termed Aristocrats) had been pro- 
ductive of the most important results in auietmg the country. 
Among those expelled were the Bishops and about ninety Cler- 
gymen and Friars. The whole mass of the Clergv (with scarce- 
ly an exception) are royalists, and to them can be traced, direct- 
ly or indirectly, the whole cause of thf^ late devastating ci\il 
war. They appear to be afraid the people will gain too much 
light, and thereby shake off the mass of superstition and bijrotrv 
which enveloped their religion ; but the main body of the peo- 
ple are tired of this priest-ridden policy, and are determined the 
Civil Power shall supersede the Ecclesiastical." 

We therefore hail the near approach of mental as well as 
politiciil freedom in the south ; and turning to suffering Greece, 
find this relic of a great nation, after a long and painful 
struggle for freedom, about to experience, by the interposi- 
tion of a holy aUiance, a change of masters ! — Oh ambition ! 
thou foe of the human race ! will thy reign never end oq 
earth ? Will ye always plead a right divine, to rob, oppress, 
and enslave mankind ? Will superstition, so interwoven with 
thy existence, so necessary to thy support, never wino- its 
way from this (freed from its influence,) peaceful earth ? 
Shall we never hail its flight as the precursor of your own 
downfall .'' Yes, the time will come, the day is approach- 
ing, when reason shall preside over the destinies of men, their 
rights be known by all, acknowledged bv all, respected by all, 
and when the whole human family shall unile as brethren be- 
neath the star spangled banner of treedom. 

Now return we to the home and the graves of your fathers. 
Now return we to view the improvement of their son''s inherit- 
ance, to see how they estimate the precious gift, how they have 
maintained their father's pledge, and to witness a nation's pious 
gratitude. For these we look not to the mirth of a day, the 
revelry of an hour, the martial music sweetly floating on the 
breeze, the pageantry of military parade, nor will we measure 
a nation's gratitude by the height of the commenced, but unfin- 
ished monument, on yonder hill.* We l«ok for the fruits of the 
seeds they planted in the improvement and condition of their 
sons, in their moral courage, their virtuous actions, theh devo- 
tion to Liberty, and in the diffusion of equal intelligence and 
of general happiness. We have seen, in our slight review ot 
other republics, that fo ignorance, as the main cause, we may 
attribute the perpetuation of their bondage, and we shall ever 

' Banker Hilk 



12 

tind nations easy victima to the ambitious and intriguing, in pro* 
portion as knowledge is unequally diflused among- the people. 

But wo need not visit other nations lor prooi's of this fact. 
Our own will unfortunately furnish ample testimony. >Vlio in 
this;rcpul)lic, arc the most ij^norant, the most mentally and phy- 
sically enslaved, and the most morally degraded ? Who ? INeed 
1 answer ? The black sons of oppression in our southern 
slates. No. J.ct me not add slander to their suflerings. 
They may be the inoj^t ignorant and enslaved, but their de- 
pravity is virtue, compared to his who sells his own bloc)d. and 
dooms to per|»«:tual slavery his own olfspring, because it is ting- 
ed with the sable, hue of its mother. W(dl do our southern 
legislators know the debasing etfect of ignorance. Well do 
they know that tiie instrtiction of their blacks would be their 
freedom ; for if they but knew their rights, they possess the 
physical force to obtain them. Hence the attempt to give them 
information is made a crime, and punished with the utmost rig- 
our, even unto death.;]; But while v.e mention these facts with 
regret, and as a disgrace to the nation, we mean not to boast of 
our own philanthropy which at present has been exhibited in 
little else than words. The blacks of right should be freed, 
but they are ignorant and degraded, incapalde of enjoying their 
iVeedom in their present state, as witnessed by the mass of 
blacks scattered throughout our free states, whose condition is 
worse than that of the generality of slaves. Nor is their condi- 
lion much, if any improved, by sending them to the sickly cli- 
mate of Liberia. They should be free. It is their right ; and 
hut for tyranny they would be so born. They should be free, 
but we must qualify them to enjoy their freedom, by cultivating 
their minds and morals, and settle thefn on lands, w'here they 
may by their industry, provide for their present and future 
wants, and be freed from the temptation to crime which they 
experience in our cities. Our limits will not permit me to de- 
taU a plan for the accomplishment of this good work. I can 
only suggest that we might, much better than in words, exhibit 
our negro philanthropy ; by begging or purchasing infant ne- 
gro children (from the care and expense of whom, many of 
their possessors would be most willingly freed,) placing these 
children in schools according to their ages ; cultivating their 
minds and bodies ; teaching them by their industry to support 
themselves, and they remaining in these agricultural schools till 
of age, would in after years do more than repay the expense of 
their early and subsequent education and support. This thought 
however slightly sketched, may not be unworthy the attention 
of all good men and honest republicans, who must ever regret 



J See Laws of S. Carolina and Louisiana. 



13 

that any should exist in our land who enjoy not their rights ; 
ihat ignorance should threaten our national prosperity, or sla- 
very tarnish our national greatness. The standard ola republican 
nation's greatness, is not standing armies nor large fleets, but its 
intelHgence. The criterion of a nation's virtue is its happiness. 

By these may we measure our present condition, and esti- 
mate our hopes of the future. 

The Constitution of these United States, secures to every 
citizen, liberty of person, of speech, and of the press ; and free- 
dom of action wherein it interferes not with the rights of others. 

Based on a knowledge of the powers of the human mind, on 
the conviction that since man cannot controul his opinions at 
will, nor force his mind to assent to any proposition but by the 
evidence afforded, he cannot be accountable to any one for 
them, however erroneous they may be ; it wisely guarantees 
to all, as a right, their free expression ; and the word toleration 
is only retained in our vocabularies in memory of the ignorance 
of the past, and the folly or injustice of the rulers of other 
nations. You all know how dearly this liberty was pur- 
chased ; and surely only purchased to be enjoyed. You all 
know for whom it was purchased. Surely not for themselves 
only, and their children of that generation ; but for their pos- 
terity to the remotest periods of time, and for the persecuted of 
every nation, who fleeing from the oppression of kings, seek 
safety and protection in this land of freedom. 

Could your fathers have supposed that in less than fifty years 
after the signing that instrument, their children should be even 
partially deprived of their liberty, and that, not by laws, nor 
force of arms ; — not by invasion of foreign foe, nor edict of 
foreign prince ; but by erroneous public opinion and unjust 
action of iheir own descendants ; could they have known tliis, 
it would have damped their spirits, unnerved their arms, par 
alyzed their exertions, and brought down their grey hairs in 
«orrow to the grave. 

Could they have dreamed that they who exercised this right 
so guaranteed to them, should, in so short a time, or ever, be 
denounced as enemies to the country, assailed in their reputa- 
tion, have their usefulness and influence much lessened, if not 
destroyed, and every means used which cunning could invent, 
to lower them in the public estimation, and to compel them to 
silence, or to deprive them of their daily bread ; could they, 
I say, so have dreamed, and further dreamed that their own off- 
spring were such traitors to their country, they would have deni- 
ed their legitimacy, and living now, would ship the spurious race 
to some more genial clime, to play the petty tyrant to each other. 



14 

Could your fatlicrs have imagined that iu this early day, o.r 
at a Culure period, any of their children should possess so little 
of their nohle spirit astoyeorto avail themselves of their rights, 
to exercise tlieir guaranteed privileges ; or that any would bow 
submissively and unresistingly to the unjust usurpations of their 
fellow citizens ; could they have so imagined, and living 
now, they would spurn such recreant beings from their feet, 
and disown fhcm as unworthy of their illustrious ancestry. 
Yet so it is — Fashion blinds the reason, and fear destroys the 
jufljinicnt ; we live, and move, and look, and think ; but how 
few. thinking unfashionably, dare freely give lUterance to their 
unpopular opinions. Numbers and influence are with us now 
considered the measure of truth, and fear and fashion make us 
freemen — coward, cringing, and obsequious slaves. 

" ALL tilings are weighed in customs' falsest scale ; 

Opinion an omnipotence — whose veil 

Mantles the earth with darkness, until right 

And wrong are accidents, anil men grow i)ale 

Lest their own judgments should become too bright, 

And their free thoughts be crimcf, and earth have too much light.*' 

Yet this bondage of the mind, this deprivation of our liberty 
is of our own permitting. ]\o constitutional law exists to take 
cognizance of free expressions, be they intolerant or liberal, 
foolish or wise. No constitutional law exists, thanks to the spir- 
it and blood of your forefathers, by which our mouths may be 
stoi'ped or our persons imprisoned ; but we have, through su- 
pineness, neglect and fear, sufl'ered ambitious and designing 
men to establish a secret inquisition throughout our land; mem- 
bers of wliich, periodically visit our dwellings, noting and se- 
cretly proscribing those who refuse to increase their funds and 
to aid them in drawing closer their meshes around us. We 
have suffered them to influence our legislatures, and to cause 
portions of sectarian creeds to be engrafted on our otherwise 
purely moral and political institutions. We have .suffered them 
to generate an intolerance of feeling which often destroys the 
social relation, engenders within the bosoms of the same 
family, the most bitter and inveterate strife, even to the de- 
struction of maternal aflection and to the disowning of children 
by their fathers, and so to stimulate their followers and the pub- 
lic press to slander and otherwise persecute their fellow citi- 
zens for e/.pressed difference of opinion, that it requires a con- 
siderable degree of moral courage, particularly in females, to 
exercise our rights, and to free ourselves from the fetters with 
which we are bound. 

Vet are there some ; some of each sex now present, and the 



15 

number is rapidly increasing, who know their rights ; wiio have 
burst the icy trammels ofsuperstition ; and who, breathino- the 
pure spirit of their revolutionary parents dare to stand forth to 
tlie world, the advocates of mental and political freedom. Yes, 
fortunately for the cause of liberty, there are some who will not 
barter their birthright to secure their pottage ; for much danger 
IS hovering over our land, which is the more to be dreaded be- 
cause not generally apprehended ; a danger that threatens to 
deprive us of the liberty we enjoy, if not averted by the early 
awakening of the peeple ; and that subjugation which foreign 
ambition could not obtain by force, may yet be obtained by fraud. 

Throughout the whole of these states an extensive ecclesi- 
astical combination exists, which simultaneously petitioned 
congress at the last session, to break the constitution of '89, 
and legislate on a religious subject. You are aware how their 
plans were for the time defeated by the honest republican, 
Richard M. Johnson. Defeat only stimulated their zeal and 
their exertions ; but convinced by it, that this nation was not 
so degenerate as to submit to this open violation of its charter- 
ed rights, and that their influence was not suflicient to enforce 
their plan in opposition to the public will, they councilled to- 
gether, and changed the mode of their present operations to 
ensure success to their future. 

Under an appearance of extended Hberality, we find these 
former persecutors, and still haters of dissentient sects, ex- 
tending the hand of fellowship to all who do not doubt or ques- 
tion the utility of their calling : thereby to increase their 
strength, obtain their object, and then, being the most numer- 
ous sect, they may think they stretch their liberality too far 
and exceed divine authority even to tolerate the expression 
of opinions not found in Calvins' institutes, or the Westminster 
confession of faith ? In futherance of their object, immense 
sums of money are solicited and obtained, in part for future ex- 
igencies, and in part to publish and disseminate tracts to pre- 
pare the public mind for any and every object they may desire 
to accomplish. But their main exertions are directed towards, 
and their main reUance is upon the rismg generation, educated 
in their Sabbath Schools. " These in ten years," say they, " will 
form the main body and the most active members of the Amer- 
ican people ; and then, if we are cautious now, and arouse not 
the slumbering spirit of '76, we shall be able to obtain our 
heart's desire, place any pious man we please in the presiden- 
tial chair, and put an end to this free expression of opinion, 
which endangers our official existence. 

With thi^ view tliey solicit every child they see, to enter their 



16 

t;u»l)atTi sclionl«;, already far too iuimrroii:s ; and by a late vote 
of tlieir svnod in Pliiladelphia, they are pledged to establisli 
one in everv unprovided town and villa<re in the great valley of 
tlie Missis>i[)pi, extending from the Alicghtinies, westward to 
the rocky nii>uutains, south to New Orleans, and embracing 
the most fertile regions of our country, and a numerous indus- 
trious and enterprising population. 

Such are their views, and with these views their plans are laid 
in wisdom ; too feeble to attempt to obtain them now by force, 
they hope to succeed by cunning ; and having justly estimated 
t!ie powers of the human mind, knewing there is but one means 
of its enslavement, that means, by education, they eagerly col- 
lect all the children together, drill them in their creeds, preju- 
dices and sectarian feelings, so that when they become men and 
women they will be fit instruments of their ambition, and wil- 
ling tools for the accom'piishment of their designs. Were their 
motives pure, I should applaud their zeal. Were their motives 
good, I should urge you to follow their example, and aid them 
in their great undertaking. Were it knowledge they tauo-ht , 
and not creeds, what lover of his country would not wish them 
success ? ^^'e\■e their sabbath schools established to teach chil- 
dren, and men and women, the duties they owe to each other, 
as fellow men ; to teach them the nature of our institutions, to 
create a spirit of kindness to every man, of every sect, and of 
every clime, to the 3Iahometan, Jew and sceptic, as to the be- 
liever ; and to impart to the working classes, that knowledge of 
men and things which their limited instruction in the common 
schools has not afforded, and their limited time and means in af- 
ter life prevent them from obtaining ; it would indeed be some- 
thing worthy our approbation, and they would, by the wise and 
good, be justly hailed as the benefactors of mankind. But fellow 
citizens, this is unfortunately not their object ; other ends have 
they in view; and party feelings and intolerance are necessary to 
their accomplishment. As lovers of our country then, we most 
sincerely hope, that with all their cunning, contrivance and 
exertion, they will receive an early and total defeat. 

There is a redeeming spirit in the people, which will yet pre- 
serve our republic from every threatened danger, foreign and 
domestic. There is a redeeming spirit widely diffusing itself 
through this nation, as manifested in the altered tone of the 
public press generally ; and more particularly in the increas- 
ing number of those papers, which devoted to the support and 
perpetuation of the free institutions of our country will not lend 
their columns to religious or irreligious intolerance. Papers 
that serve n« sect, acknowledge no party, but whose editor< 



17 

devoie their able pens and useful columns to the service of the 
people, to the improvement of their condition, and to the com- 
mon wood of the republic ; foremost in this noble work we may- 
rank the New York 'Daily Sentinel, the Free Enquirer, and 
the Alabama Spirit of the Age. 

There is a redeeming spirit abroad, which is even now rous- 
ing the people to the consideration of their rights, and to the 
means of obtaining and preserving them. This spirit is the in- 
creasing intelligence of the people. It is this general increase 
of intelligence only, that can preserve our federal constitution 
inviolate, and hand it down to posterity unimpaired. This state 
has done more for her citizens by education, than any state in 
the union, and they are proverbially more intelligent and more 
virtuous, the liberality of the people even outstripping her con- 
stitution and antiquated laws. But she has still much to per- 
form, the pioneer in every good and liberal work, she must 
give to the union a better system of education, a system, good 
enough for the rich, and not too good for the poor ; a republic- 
an system, which shall give to the children of the poor, equal 
advantages of instruction, equal opportunities of arriving at 
eminence, with the children of the rich, for liberty and equality- 
can only dwell where all have equal advantasfes of education ; 
a practical system, which shall not only convey a knowledge of 
words, but also of the properties and qualities of things ; a sys- 
tem that shall debase none, but elevate all ; that shall lead all 
to observe and think, and to treat each other as fellow beings, 
and children of one republican family ; but above all, a system 
that shall equally well cultivate the female mind with that of the 
male, and qualify them to be the early instructors of their chil- 
dren. Then will our liberties be placed on a pedestal which no 
machinations of ambitious clergy, nor intrigues of foreign despots 
can undermine. Then will our future legislators, legislate with 
^visdom and in accordance with the spirit of our institutions. 
Then will the press be free and not aid in perpetuating igno- 
rance and error. Then will public opinion, if it sit in judgment 
at all, judge \vith candor and censure with caution. Then will 
no man fear to express his honest opinions, nor will any be 
slandered or persecuted for the exercise of his constitutional 
rights. Then will all other departures from our constitution be 
remedied and we shall redeem the pledge your fathers have giv- 
en. Then will ye have fully proved your parentage, and your- 
selves worthy of your inheritance. Then peace, happiness and 
good will to man will reign on this portion of the earth, and ev- 
ery reflective mind will consider it an honour, as with our pre- 
sent hopes I now do, to be a citizen of these United States. 



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